Woody De Othello
Woody De Othello (b. 1991, Miami) works primarily in clay and bronze, manipulating mundane objects such as clocks, calendars, phones, and box fans to transform them into warped, uncanny repositories of psychic significance. This approach builds on the West and Central African concept of nkisi, in which objects contain and release spiritual forces; for Othello, each work is a vessel, even when it is physically sealed. His two-dimensional works also present surrealistic distortions of scale and temporality, invoking the familiar but confounding legibility. He lives in Oakland, California.
Recent solo exhibitions include Karma, (Los Angeles, 2025, New York, 2022, 2019); Stephen Friedman Gallery, London (2024); John Michael Kohler Arts Center, Sheboygan, Wisconsin (2021–22); Jessica Silverman Gallery, San Francisco (2021); Nina Johnson, Miami (2020); Pippy Houldsworth Gallery, London (2020); San José Museum of Art, California (2019). His work was included in the 2022 Whitney Biennial Quiet as It’s Kept,. Othello’s work is represented in the collections of the Aïshti Foundation, Beirut; Baltimore Museum of Art; Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh; Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, California; Dallas Museum of Art; de Young Museum, San Francisco; Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; MAXXI – National Museum of 21st Century Art, Rome; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Museum of Fine Art, Houston; Pérez Art Museum, Miami; Rennie Museum, Vancouver; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; San José Museum of Art; Seattle Art Museum; Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC; and Whitney Museum of American Art, New York.
Othello’s exhibition Tuning the Dial is on view at Karma, Los Angeles through April 5, 2025. Othello will be included in the The Orange County Museum of Art’s 2025 California Biennial: Desperate, Scared, But Social opening June 21, 2025.
Born 1991, Miami
Lives in Oakland, California
EDUCATION
2017
MFA, California College of Arts, San Francisco
2013
BFA, Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, Florida
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2025
Karma, Los Angeles, Tuning the Dial
2024
Stephen Friedman Gallery, London, Faith Like a Rock
2022
Karma, New York, Maybe tomorrow
2021-22
John Michael Kohler Arts Center, Sheboygan, Wisconsin, Hope Omens
2021
Jessica Silverman Gallery, San Francisco, Looking In
2020
Nina Johnson, Miami, Woody De Othello: Coming to Light
Pippy Houldsworth Gallery, London, The Box
2019
Karma, New York, To live in hope
San Jose Museum of Art, San Jose, California, Woody De Othello: Breathing Room
2018
Jessica Silverman Gallery, San Francisco, Living Room
2016
Quality, Oakland, California, Lights Out Night Out
Old New England, Berkeley, California, Real Life Still Life
UFO Gallery, Berkeley, California, Patty’s Mashed Potatoes
2015
Unit 1, Lake Worth, Florida, It’s Going To Be Okay
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2025
Orange County Museum of Art, Costa Mesa, California, California Biennial 2025: Desperate, Scared, But Social
2024
2023
Stephen Friedman Gallery, London, The Place I Am
Venus Over Manhattan, New York, Retinal Hysteria
University of Michigan Museum of Art, Ann Arbor, Hear Me Now: The Black Potters of Old Edgefield, South Carolina
de Young Museum, San Francisco, Crafting Radicality: Bay Area Artists from the Svane Gift
The Current, Stowe, Vermont, Exposed
Berkeley Art Museum & Pacific Film Archive, California, What Has Been and What Could Be: The BAMPFA Collection
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Conversation Pieces
Jessica Silverman, San Francisco, California, A Growing Season
Museum of Arts and Design, New York, Funk You Too! Humor and Irreverence in Ceramic Sculpture
Canal Projects, New York, Dwelling
Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara, California, WARES! Extraordinary Ceramics and the Ordinary Home
Museum of Craft and Design, San Francisco, California, Fight and Flight: Crafting a Bay Area Life
Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Massachusetts, Hear Me Now: The Black Potters of Old Edgefield, South Carolina
2022-23
San Luis Obispo Museum of Art, San Luis Obispo, Home/Work
Hayward Gallery, London, Strange Clay: Ceramics in Contemporary Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Hear Me Now: The Black Potters of Old Edgefield, South Carolina
Smithsonian American Art Museum and Renwick Gallery, Washington D.C., This Present Moment: Crafting a Better World
2022
Timothy Taylor, London, A Thing for the Mind
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, Whitney Biennial 2022: Quiet as It’s Kept
Pence Gallery, Davis, On the Edge: CCA Clay
2021
San José Museum of Art, San José, Our whole, unruly selves
Reynolds Gallery, Richmond, Virginia, Day Trip
Deitch Projects, New York, Clay Pop
Jessica Silverman, San Francisco, We Are Here
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Close to Home: Creativity in Crisis
2020
Nassima-Landau Project, Tel Aviv, High Voltage
Marin Museum of Contemporary Art, Novato, California, Justice
Matthew Brown Gallery, Los Angeles, Material Conditions
NCECA Conference, Richmond, Virginia, The Burdens of History
Karma, New York, (Nothing but) Flowers
Fisher Parrish, New York, The Essential Goods Show (online)
Nina Johnson, Miami, Coming to Light
Center for Craft, Asheville, North Carolina, Sleight of Hand
NCECA Conference, Richmond, The Burdens of History
2019
Shulamit Nazarian, Los Angeles, Roommates
33rd Ljubljana Biennial of Graphic Arts, Ljublijana, Slovenia
Natalie and James Thompson Art Gallery, San José State University, California, Planned Obsolescence
Friedman Benda, New York, Blow Up, curated by Felix Burrichter
2018
Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, Bay Area Now
Jessica Silverman Gallery at 288 Pacific, San Francisco, Horizon Lines
Jessica Silverman Gallery, San Francisco, Kinship
Front International Cleveland Triennial For Contemporary Art, Cleveland, Ohio
Karma, New York, Kinder Gentler Nation
Carrie Secrist Gallery, Chicago, From the Ground Up
2017
Sonoma State University Art Gallery, California, Working TWO Scale: New Bay Area Ceramic Sculpture
Johansson Projects, Oakland, California, Matt Kleberg and Woody De Othello
Gallery T293, Rome, Homo Mundus Minor
Perry Family Event Center, San Francisco, 30th Annual Barclay Simpson Master of Fine Arts Award Exhibition
Alter Space at Minnesota Street Projects, San Francisco, To Speak of Trees
2016
Hubbell Street Gallery, San Francisco, All College Honors
College Avenue Gallery, Oakland, California, Rocks and Socks
The Rideau Curling Club, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, Ottawa Makers Market
7264 North Miami Court, Miami, Clay Bodies
2015
5&J Gallery, Lubbock, Texas, Grayscale
Fat Village Projects, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Possessed
Armory Arts Center, West Palm Beach, Florida, Resident Exit Show
2014
Unit 1, Lake Worth, Florida, The Contenders
Fat Village Projects, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Monstrous Strange
Fat Village Projects, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Acid Reflux
Unit 1, Lake Worth, Florida, The Strange Ones
Palm Beach Cultural Council, Lake Worth, Florida, Southern Exposure: New Work Now
White Space Gallery, West Palm Beach, Florida, Outside The Box 2
Artserve, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Fluidity
Nathan H. Wilson Center, Jacksonville, Florida, All Florida Ceramics Invitational
2013
World and Eye Arts Center, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Small Wonders
Ritter Art Gallery, Boca Raton, Florida, Apex: Fall 2013 BFA Exhibition
Armory Art Center, West Palm Beach, Florida, Inferno
Northern Trust Bank, Boca Raton, Florida, College of Arts & Letters Dean’s Reception
Artserve, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Red Eye Art
Arts Council of Martin County, Stuart, Florida, Lounge Series
Arts Council of Martin County, Stuart, Florida, Arts After Darks
2012
Atlantic Center of The Arts, New Smyrna Beach, Florida, 23rd Annual University Juried Student Exhibition
Legal Art, Miami, Four Minutes, Thirty Three Seconds
PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
Aishti Foundation, Lebanon
Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore
Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh
Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento
Dallas Museum of Art
de Young Museum, San Francisco
High Museum of Art, Atlanta
Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston
Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami
John Michael Kohler Arts Center, Sheboygan, Wisconsin
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles
MAXXI – National Museum of 21st Century Art, Rome
Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Canada
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Museum of Fine Art, Boston
Museum of Fine Art, Houston
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia
Pérez Art Museum, Miami
Rennie Collection, Vancouver, British Columbia
Renwick Gallery, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington D.C.
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
San Jose Museum of Art, California
Seattle Art Museum, Washington
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York City
Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Connecticut
AWARDS AND GRANTS
2018
SFO International Terminal Boarding Area G Outdoor Terrace Commission
2017
Toby Devan Lewis Award
2016
Barclay Simpson Award, California College of the Arts, San Francisco
CCA Merit Scholarship, California College of the Arts, San Francisco
2015
CCA All College Honors, California College of the Arts, San Francisco
CCA Merit Scholarship, California College of the Arts, San Francisco
2013
Claire V. Dorst Scholarship, Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, Florida
Runner-up of Fine Art in Creative Quarterly
John McCoy Scholarship, Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, Florida
Rothenberger Endowed Scholarship for Humanities, Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, Florida
2012
Marvin and Eileen Reingold Contemporary Ceramics Collection
2011
Rothenberger Endowed Scholarship for Humanities: Printmaking, Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, Florida
RESIDENCIES
2020
John Michael Kohler Arts Center, Sheboygan, Wisconsin
2018
Liquitex Research Residency, Minnesota Street Project, San Francisco
2016
Old New England, Berkeley, California
2015
Pentaculum Resident, Arrowmont, Gatlinburg, Tennessee
2014
Sculpture Artist in Residence, Armory Arts Center, West Palm Beach, Florida
Publications
2018
Woody De Othello, Where I Live Inside
Karma, New York
36 pages, staple bound
11 × 8 1/2 inches
2021
Woody De Othello
Karma/Jessica Silverman, New York
320 pages, hardcover
9 × 7 1⁄4 inches
2023
Woody De Othello, Maybe Tomorrow
Karma, New York, 2023
112 pages
9 3⁄4 × 11 1⁄2 inches
